Excessive Force-Pittsburgh Police - 20 yrs before G-20! - Pt. 1

As a morning show host on a Pittsburgh radio station (104.7 WYDD), field reporter, and parttime adjunct professor at Robert Morris University, I experienced terror at the hands of a police officer at a "Dead" concert in 1989. I had taken my Writing for Radio and Television students to the Civic (now Mellon) Arena to write the script for a documentary about the "Rainbow People." They were part of those who followed Gerry Garcia and crew from concert to concert. While there, I witnessed police officers in action against the "Dead Heads," and pointed it out to the Night Watch Commander, Commander Edwards, whom I was interviewing. Later, when one of the offending officers saw me in the crowd, he apprehended me, cuffed me, and threatened me (I cannot print the words he used). I was lucky, though. As the Commander walked away from Gate I, he noticed that I was being restrained by the officer who was involved in a number of the incidents against the concert goers, I yelled for him to help me. He responded quickly demanding that I be released. As far as I know, the officers involved in the melee were never disciplined. The reason is that the supervisory police officials were, and I believe still are, members of the Fraternal Order of Police, alongside the patrol people. Offenses against the public were often not acted upon. This video addresses the issue. My question is, will the police react to the inevitable crowds that will gather to protest the G-20 Conference to be held in Pittsburgh in September, as they did when the "Dead Heads" were in town? This video is also available at: fordshankle.com.

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[FordWilsonShankle]

Thanks for the comment...stay in touch! Ford Shankle

[FordWilsonShankle]

I am that hippie! I reported the police officer's transgression to his supervisor. He intentionally tried to run down a concert goer because he had a can of beer on the arena property, nearly running over others. He was in the wrong. When he grabbed me he said, "You f..cken hippie, i/m takin you in...you might not live through the night. Luckily, Commander Edwards came to my rescue, demanding that the officer release me. By the way many Constitutional rights were violated that day.

[wilcarr1]

Sounds like a real wuzz. You have someone resist arrest and there is sometimes no choice but to kick his ass.

[mike110466]

That was a great show. Dam pigs ruined the whole evening.

[jahmansb]

I was there, cops were wrong.. lets move towards peace ...

[jamespothier2]

Fuck those Pittsburgh PIGS. They were some of the worst on a tour filled with bad PIGS.

[hunnydelight9911]

he gives that hippie a little mini kick

[myroncope]

I remember this, and it was covered on MTV News by Kurt Loder. I wanted to kill these cops, I was like 12 at the time

[balleep]

in the piece where the news director talks, the reel to reel behind him needs to have the hand prints cleaned off around the capstan and tape tension holder with isopropyl alcohol. Did they not know to do that before they allowed the filming to progress?!!

[BeadStallcup]

I wonder if that "officer" would have had the balls to punch the guy in the face, if his follow officers didn't already have the guy's armed pinned. Ha! I seriously doubt it. It's easy to hit someone when they can't fight back. It's also the sign of a yellow belly, a stinking coward to hit a defenseless man. I just have to wonder how tough these cops would be, if these citizens had the use of comparable force against the cops. I'll wager a lot of these "officers" would turn and run.